As the Public Eye column from the Sacramento Bee notes, there is not enough money to maintain the trail and one area is especially bad.
An excerpt.
“The problem: Sacramento County cut the American River Parkway's maintenance budget by about $380,000. While there are numerous areas within the parkway in need of repair, one particular trouble spot is the trail surface between mile markers 3 and 4.
“Root buckling has made the trail there unsafe for cyclists and runners. With less daylight, the potential for injury only gets worse.
“In 2000, the cost of catching up on a 12-mile backlog of parkway resurfacing was estimated at $1 million. In today's costs, the repair tab reaches $3 million.
“The solution: Measure A funds have restored maintenance workers for the trail. Meanwhile, parkway advocates would like the county to join forces with the other municipalities along the parkway to boost funding.
“County officials said repairs between miles 3 and 4 are "delayed indefinitely" because of pending levee work that will require relocating the trail segment.
"It did not make sense to spend a lot of public money fixing something that is going to be completely ripped out," said Liz Bellas, a county administrator. "We've been told that is going to happen soon."
“She said she didn't know how long that would be.”
